A Hidden New Life
by Doctor-Harry-Pendragon
Summary: A challenge by Mrs. Catherine Potter! After a secret is revealed, Merlin becomes King of Essex, a kingdom which has been the subject of war for many years. But can Merlin bring peace? Or will the kingdom fall to another kingdom?
1. Prologue

**Author Note: This story is a challenge that was set by **_**Mrs. Catherine Potter**_** and this is basically a prologue. Would you call it a prologue? Anyway, it sort of sets the scene and explains everything. This idea came to me during Maths, and the evil plot bunny has been bugging me ever since. So I wrote this. Please R&R, even if you think my story is really bad – tell me how to improve it! Anyway, hope you like it!**

Many years ago, Godwine was king of Essex, a peaceful kingdom. His wife, Sunngifu, had died years ago, and he himself had raised his two sons alone. The first son was also called Athelstan, and he was the heir to the throne. Athelstan was very noble, but often switched from lover to lover. His second wife, Synnove, had died in childbirth six years ago, and he too was raising his son alone. Then Athelstan IV died, and his son, Athelstan, became King of Essex.

Enter Eoforhild, a beautiful girl from one of the many villages in Essex. Athelstan met her when out riding, and immediately fell in love with her. They were to be married, until Athelstan moved on to another woman. Eoforhild was discarded, as if she had never known the King in the first place.

A few months later, Eoforhild gave birth to a daughter, named Hunith. Then Eoforhild married Cuthberht, a farmer from her village. The two had three two sons – Leofric and Godric – and three daughters: Aebbe, Godiva and Mildburg. Hunith grew up convinced she was the daughter of Cuthberht, and eventually moved to Camelot.

During the Great Purge, Hunith met Balinor, who she fell in love with. Balinor was a dragonlord, whose kind was searched out by Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot. The pair ran away to Ealdor, but were split up when Uther came looking for Balinor. Hunith stayed in Ealdor, where she raised her son, Merlin.

Meanwhile, back in Essex, Osgar son of King Athelstan, had died, so the only heir was the brother to Athelstan, Aelfric. And so, in turn, Athelstan died, and Aelfric seized the kingdom from him.

Aelfric was a bloodthirsty, power-hungry and generally evil man, who decided to go to war with all of the outlying kingdoms. But the Knights of Essex were not as brave as those in the other kingdoms, and Essex seemed to be attacked daily. The only thing stopping the kingdom from being taken over was the villages surrounding Essex Castle.

While all this was happening, Merlin (son of Hunith, who was daughter of Athelstan) was serving King Arthur of Camelot as his manservant, while keeping the magic he had inherited from his father a secret.

After a long period of wars, the people of Essex were desperate for peace, and so they searched for an heir, but to their dismay, they could not find one. That was, until Eoforhild, now an elderly lady, told of her daughter, Hunith, whose father was King Athelstan, and her son, Merlin. At first, the people did not believe her, but realised that Merlin was their last chance, so a small group of people ventured off to Ealdor to find him.


	2. Whispers

**Author Note: Firstly I'd like to thank **_**EVERYBODY**_** who reviewed and subscribed to this story, it means so much! It's made my month, really.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Merlin. That belongs to the BBC. I own nothing.**

"_MER_lin!" the king cried, as his manservant lugged a heavy bag into the castle, where the king was heading. The manservant cried, "So... heavy... Arthur. How... much... longer?"

The king smiled, "Up to my chambers, Merlin. And then into the cupboard!" You could easily tell that King Arthur was enjoying Merlin's struggles, because he then added, "You see, Merlin, any knight could lift up that bag and have it in my chambers within a minute. But because you're so _weak_ and _bony_, Merlin, you can't."

"I'm not a knight," Merlin replied, _but if I was able to use magic, I could have this stupid bag in your chambers in a second_, he thought, tugging the bag up the large steps into the castle. He groaned as the bag jolted up the steps. He glanced across at a crowd of five in the courtyard, watching him, and then at Arthur grinning widely, "If you actually bothered to try and _lift_ a sword Merlin, you wouldn't be having this problem." At that point the bag was about halfway up the steps, and Merlin was red in the face. After laughing for quite a bit, Arthur picked up the bag with ease, and carried it up the rest of the steps. But with a rising of Merlin's hand, and a golden flash of his eyes, Arthur suddenly dropped the bag. Merlin smirked, "Not heavy at all." Arthur scowled, picking up the bag. He then continued onwards, explaining, "I didn't drop it, it _fell_."

"Oh yeah, of course," Merlin nodded sarcastically. Eager to stretch his revenge even further, he muttered "_Andetta __gehefigian abiron eardgeard hyre oncíegan þes,_" and suddenly Arthur was struggling with the bag, which had become very heavy. Arthur scowled again, and Merlin chuckled, "I thought you said you'd have it in your chambers in a minute!"

"Actually, Merlin I think I've proved to you that I _can_. Now why don't you do your job for once and carry this into my room," Arthur smiled, and Merlin sighed. At least those few seconds of revenge were worth it, though. As he took the bag from Arthur, he realised that the bag was _incredibly_ heavy, and muttered, "_Hefe edhwierft,_" which made the bag return to its previous weight, if not considerably lighter.

When the pair reached the Great Hall, Arthur ordered Merlin to take the bag to his chambers, while Arthur spoke to his council. Merlin groaned, but obeyed, anyway. Not that he had a choice.

"It's _him_!" whispered a young woman from across the courtyard. She were watching Merlin tug the heavy bag up the steps, along with five other people. They watched as King Arthur of Camelot laughed at Merlin's struggle to pull the bag up the steps. Another woman whispered, "The one who's laughing at his servant? He looks just as bad as Aelfric!" The other four looked at her, appalled by her stupidity. Had she listened to a word that Hunith had said? The first woman, Alta, just corrected her, "That's the king he works for. _Our_ king is his manservant."

"Then we must help him!" the second woman cried, marching over to the young man. But the men in the group pulled her backwards, and one man (Wine) roared, "Are you an idiot Cyneburga? He could be an evil and ungrateful person for all we know." This was heard by the king and his servant, who gave the group a strange look. The second woman, Cyneburga sniffed, "He is our last chance. We must tell him immediately. Why else did we travel all this way?" Then the only other man in the group, Cola, interrupted them, "Shut it, you two. From what we know, our king lives with the court physician. We need to find a way to get into his chambers."

"Simple," the final woman, Heahburgh, smiled, and suddenly she started coughing madly. Wine, seeing what she was doing, joined in, and the rest of the group gasped in horror. "Cola, are you okay?" Alta, who was the wife of Cola, asked, clearly worried. Wine choked more, pointing to the guards. The king and his manservant had left, and now only the guards stood near the entrance of the castle. Alta, playing her role well, ran up to the guards and screamed, "My husband! He will not stop coughing! Help me, please!" the guards looked bemused as they looked over, and saw a man and a woman coughing madly, while another man and woman were attempting to help them. Then one guard replied, "Our physician is busy, and he has no reason to treat peasants from another kingdom."  
>"How did you-?" Alta's question was answered when the guard pointed to Wine's clothes – they had the crest of Essex on them. Alta bit her lip, deep in thought, "But he helps those who need him, does he not? We are in urgent need of a physician. Please," Alta pleaded. Then one guard looked up, "I will escort her to the physician's chambers. He shall decide whether to treat him or not."<p>

And so Alta found herself at the door of the court physician. But it was not him that opened the door.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Please R&R, whatever your thoughts! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and subscribed to this story!**

**Note: Can I just say that the Old English (magic used by Merlin) translates first into '**_**Let the weight of the world fall onto this' **_**and then '**_**weight reverse**_**' – I think. I translated it word by word, and I will be really pleased if any **_**incredibly**_** intelligent Old English speaker (it's a hard language to learn) is to correct me! And can I also say that people really were called **_**'Cola'**_** (meaning charcoal) and **_**'Wine'**_** (meaning friend)!**


	3. Telling The Truth

**Author Note: Oh. My. God. I can't believe how many reviews this is getting! I'm really worried I'll screw it up somehow! And I'd like to thank everyone AGAIN for reviewing! Oh and there will be no slash (as much as I would like it) because that was part of the challenge set!  
>The reason why this has taken a while to upload is because the last <strong>_**Sherlock**_** episode of the year aired on the 15****th****, and I have been in an upsetting mood since. Thanks to that, I found that I couldn't write, so I waited a bit (with no help from Tumblr) and eventually I wrote the chapter! Yes, I know it's been almost a month since that dreaded day, but I was emotionally destroyed for a while!  
>Can I also say that all the names I've used are Anglo-Saxon <strong>_**(source: Behind the Name)**_**!****  
><strong>**Disclaimer: Can I just say that I do not own Merlin, and if I did Merthur would be married by now...**

Guinevere smiled as she took the ointment from Gaius, the court physician. "If your cold persists, return, but this should do the trick," he said.  
>"Thank you, Gaius," Guinevere turned to walk to the door, but heard footsteps from the corridor. "I hope that's not Arthur looking for me. He should be at his council now." Guinevere opened the door, and behind it stood a young woman and one of the guards. "What is it?" she asked, smiling politely. The woman smiled back, nervously. She stared at Guinevere, "I'm looking for the court physician."<br>"Hello," Gaius walked over to the door, "is anything wrong?" The woman stared at him, in shock. She glanced around, before answering, "My husband. He is having this coughing fit. Is there anything you can give him?"  
>"Oh yes, I know just what," Gaius replied, opening one of the many books on his desk. He invited the woman inside to wait, and the guard marched off back to his post. Then the woman asked, "Do you happen to know anybody called Merlin?" as Gaius gathered ingredients. And as he took a few into his hands, she shouted, "No, my husband's not really sick. It's a story we made up to get here." Gaius frowned, and put away the ingredients. Then the woman smiled, "Sorry, I was forgetting my manners. My name is Alta, and I have come from Essex." Gaius nodded, fully aware of the wars that kingdom had provoked. Alta continued, "We, the people of Essex, would like peace to return. We long for our King's death, so that the wars may stop. Alas, the king is a strong man, and a skilled warrior. We are desperate for a new king, and the true heir to the throne lives in this very place."<br>"Merlin? It is his destiny to protect Camelot. And he cannot be an heir," Gaius shook his head; Alta was wrong - Merlin could never leave Camelot! But the woman nodded, "It is the truth. Though he is not a legitimate heir, he is all we have and, like I said, the people of Essex are growing desperate."  
>"And how strong is this royal link?"<br>"King Athelstan had many lovers. One of which he was to marry: Eoforhild. But Athelstan fell in love with someone else, and Eoforhild was discarded. She had a daughter, whose father was the king. And that daughter had a son, with a destiny so great. Eoforhild told us this herself. It may not be true, but this is the only chance we have. Five of us were sent off to find him: Wine, Cola, Heahburgh, Cyneburga and I. He travelled to Ealdor, where we heard that the King's daughter lives. She told us that her son was living in Camelot, so we travelled here. Now we ask only to speak to our true king."  
>"Merlin is working. He should be back soon. Bring your four accomplices here, and we shall wait for him," Gaius nodded towards the door, and Alta rushed off back to the castle entrance, where the others were waiting.<p> 


	4. Revelations

**A/N: Hello! Sorry I haven't been posting!****  
><strong>**I'd just like to thank everybody for the story alerts, the reviews and the favourites! I really appreciate it!****  
><strong>**And I didn't know this would be so popular!****  
><strong>**I'd just like to add that I have noticed the error with the two people coughing in the previous chapter, and I will try to make sure I never mix-up characters again!****  
><strong>**I also realised that Alta was being pressed out as a leader and, though she would make a good one, it doesn't suit the time period and I try to be as historically accurate as possible! So Alta will be taking a back seat, and I will expand on the other four characters over the next few chapters!****  
><strong>**I'd like to thank my Twitter followers for their support (especially one special friend who kept egging me on; you know who you are).****  
><strong>**So, R & R, please tell me if I'm out of character at any point; criticism is wanted as much as praise!****  
><strong>_**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Merlin. I think you'd know if I did. (I'm 'shipping Merthur 'til I die!)**_

When Merlin arrived, all he wanted to do was lie down on his bed and sleep. Perhaps Gaius had something for backaches.  
>But fate had other ideas.<br>Merlin staggered into the physician's chambers, only to be greeted by five strangely excited people and Gaius, who seemed worried, and a tad shocked. He just hoped nobody had seen him using magic again; he didn't fancy spending the night in the dungeons yet again. A tall woman leaned over to another woman and whispered, "He doesn't look much like a strong warrior!"  
>"I'm sure he'll do very well. Looks like he needs a bit of fattening up. But I can soon change that," the other woman, who was much smaller, smiled.<br>"Is somebody going to tell me what's going on?" Merlin asked, confused by these strange people all excited to see him.  
>"Merlin, this is Alta," Gaius gestured to a small woman, who had been speaking to the tall woman. Her eyes widened, and she smiled, bowing her head, "My king."<br>"_King_?" Merlin frowned. Did she just say king? As in kingdom and crown king?  
>"You're the next king of Essex," Cola informed. Merlin looked at him, and then turned to Gaius. He nodded, signalling to Merlin that what Cola had said was true.<br>Yet Merlin couldn't quite believe it, even if Gaius said so. "As if," he grinned, expecting them to burst out laughing.  
>But they didn't. Their looks grew sterner, and the truth dawned on Merlin.<br>Merlin was a king. A _proper_ king of a _proper_ kingdom.  
>He remembered all those times he'd wished he was in Arthur's position, and what a great king he'd make, but they'd just been thoughts, really. He'd never expect anything to come of them.<br>And then he was faced with his destiny. It was his destiny to remain by Arthur's side, in Camelot, yet this opportunity could not go amiss; a whole kingdom depended on it. In Essex, he would be able to use his magic freely, while in Camelot he would hide from the truth. Arthur may never legalise magic.  
>Merlin paced the room, aware he was being watched by everybody, thinking over his options. Everything seemed to point towards going to Essex, apart from his destiny. Merlin and Arthur could always combine their kingdoms?<br>Nonsense; they were a great distant apart.  
>He wasn't taught how to deal with these things; Merlin was just a young man from Ealdor, nothing else. He'd never been taught how to deal with this type of situation - did his mother even know about all this?<br>With all these things flying through his head, Merlin finally asked, "How?"  
>"Your grandmother," Gaius seemed sterner and worried, after Merlin's reaction, "she was engaged to one of the late kings of Essex. Together they had a child, though he did not know."<br>"Mother," Merlin realised.  
>Cola stepped forward, "My king, if I may speak."<br>"Oh yeah, of course," Merlin seemed surprised at this request, though it would be something he'd have to get used to. The four newcomers seemed taken aback at this response; they presumed the king to be more formal in his speaking. However, Cola continued: "Our current king, Aelfric, is a bloodthirsty creature, who creates wars between other kingdoms just for the sake of it. Our people yearn the peace, that we hope you will bring, and not the terror-filled lives that we live today. My king, you are our last hope."  
>Merlin stood still, and looked at Gaius. Gaius nodded, understanding Merlin's line if thought.<br>It was time to visit the Great Dragon.


	5. IMPORTANT

Hey!

So, a while ago I abandoned this little fic, and I've decided to pull this out of the metaphorical attic which it's been left in, and jazz it up. I'm writing a new version of this, with better characterisation, longer chapters and a few minor tweaks to the plot.

I hope that I've matured and bettered myself as a writer, and that this next version of Hidden New Life will be better than the current one!

And I promise, first chapter up today, over at AO3 (Plutonian) or on here at my new account, StairwayToLucifer!


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